Bedstead



71 1934- L, H. HOUN SFIELD 1,982,165

' BEDSTEAD Filed March 14. 1933 11y IIIIIAII,

2 a t A x V v ATTORNE Y Patented Nov. 27, 1934 BEDSTEAD Leslie Haywood Hounsfleld, Wimbledon, London,

England a Application March 14, 1933, Serial No.

In Great Britain March 18, 1932 2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in and connected with bedsteads' and has for its object the provision of a bedstead which shall mom the comfort usually associated with a' spring mattress and shall at the same time be of very light weight and if so desired shall be capable of being packed into a very small space. Such a bedstead findsmany applications; it may be used in aeroplanes, submarines etc, in hospitals wherever a portable sun-bedor-the like is required and particularly when it is constructed in the collapsible form it is eminently suitable for campers.

'So-called camp beds as usually constructed consist of a sheet of flexible material such as canvas stretched between two hinged or jointed rigid longitudinal side members. The side mem bers are supported at intervals by suitable legs generally afiording a more or less rigid support and transverse end members are usually provided to hold the side members apart. These beds suifer from the disadvantage inter alia that there is little or no yielding to the shape of the figure other than is provided by the slight elasticity of the canvas. I In a prior construction I have proposed to make the legs or supports of the bed preferably of resilient or springy material such as steel, in the shape of a somewhat flattened and outwardly splayed W of which the outer ends engaged the opposite side members. Four such supports were preferably employed and were preferably so disposed along the length of the side members as to coincide with the points at which a recumbent figure can receive more or less unyielding support without discomfort. Whilst this construction was an improvement over the known construction in several respects the rigidity of the side members prevented any useful local deflection except that due to the slight elasticity oi the canvas. h

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages whilst at the same time providing a simple and eflicient construction 01. bedstead.

It is a further object of the invention to pro-. vide an improved bedstead having a pair of springy sidemembers for supporting a sheet of flexible material therebetween. Another object 50, is to provide means for supporting the side members at spaced positions so asto allow them to flex under an impressed load. It is a further object of the invention to provide resilient means for supporting the side members at spaced points.

5 It is a 'iurther object 01' the invention to provide a pair of jointed springy side members for supporting the flexiblematerial. Another object of the invention is to provide a bedstead having a pair of hinged sprlngy side members.

A fiu'ther object of the invention is to'provide a bedstead having springy side members for supporting a sheet of flexible material stretched therebetween and means for supporting the side members at positions which are so spaced as to allow the side members to give at the places necessary to afford comfort.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved bedstead having detachable legs for supporting a pair or springy canvas supporting side rods at spaced points.

It is a further object of the invention to provide means for supporting the springy side members or rods at positions substantially corresponding to the positions of a sleepers waist, knees and feet so as to allow the bed to depress at places corresponding to the sleepers shoulders; hips and calves.

With these and other objects in view a bedstead according to the present invention may comprise a sheet of flexible material attached or adapted to be attached along opposite longitudinal edges to springy side members and one or more supports adapted to support the side members at spaced points and to stretch the sheet between the side members. J

It is to be understood that as supports any suitable legs or the like may be employed. II desired a single supporting frame, collapsible or not, may be employed as a support, provided that it is capable of supporting the side membersat spaced positions in such manner as to allow them to flex under an impressed load. The said sheet may be made of any flexiblematerial such as canvas, netting or other suitable material, and will be referred to for convenience as the canvas.

If the bedstead is intended to be readily portable, the supports may conveniently be-sliaped like a very wide W but with the centre somewhat flattened and the ends splayed outwards in such a manner as to reduce the bending moment in 100 the. supports due to the tension of the canvas and to enable the ends of the supports to take the load mainly in thrust. It is to be understood, however, that any suitable legs or other supports may be employed.

The side members may be of any suitable material such i'or example as inch diameter tempered spring steel rod preferably treated to be rust resisting or other resilient material such as tubing or cane of suitable dimensions. By this 11 the same. time the small ticularly where the 2 construction, local deflection at the places required is positively and readily obtained while at dimensions of the side rods necessary to afford the desired flexibility necessarily result in the use of very little weight of material and hence the complete bed is exceptionally light.

The longitudinal edges of the canvas may be folded and sewn to form'tubular edges, through which the side rods "may pass freely. The supports are then attached to the side rods through holes suitably situated in these tubular edges.

The side rods may be hinged, jointed or divided wherever convenient, for example, in the centre in order to enable the bedstead to be folded into a small'compass.

Each side rod is not necessarily divided or hinged but may be made in a single piece and parbed is not to be carried about for instance when the bed is to be used in confined spaces one side member may be hinged or otherwise secured preferably with provision for slight longitudinal sliding movement at convenient intervals to a wall or the like and the second side member may have secured thereto at points corresponding to the points of attachment ,on the first side member hinged, fixed or detachable legs arranged to take the load'when the bedstead is opened up for use.

The canvas is preferably extended for about 15 inchesat each end and the extensions may be turned back over the ably or fixedly secured to the bed so as to form a pocket at each end. The pocket at one ,end may for'example serve. to hold apillow or other support and if desired, cash or valuables whilst the pocket at the other end may serve to prevent the feet from becoming exposed.

In order that the invention may be well understood a preferred embodiment thereof will be described by way of example only, as applied to a camp or portable bedstead with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:--

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the bed as 'it would appear when supporting a recumbent flg- I ure the position of which is indicated by broken lines. Bed clothing is not shown.

Figure 2 is in part a topplan view and in part an underneath plan view of the bed as it would appear when supporting -a heavy recumbent flgurealthough'for the sake of clearness none is shown.

Figure 3 is a transverse section through the bed normally loaded. I

Figure 4 is a detail view of one of the side rods. Figure 5 .is a half underneath plan view of a modified form' of bed having hinged side rods.

Figure 6 is a detail view of one of the side rods of the bed shown'in' Figure 5.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawing a sheet of canvas 1 is turned over and sewn along opposite longitudinal edges t edges 2 for the reception 0 two spring steel side members or rods 3. The tubular edges 2 do not extend for the full length of the sheet 1 the-- ends of which extend beyond the ends of the side rods 3 to form extensions which are turned over and stitched down at the corners 51 to the sheet 1 to provide pockets 5 one of which may serve as a pillow case and 7 the other as a pocket'for the feet.

' 'spaced legs or supports 6 of spring steel and shaped in the form of a W with the centre part somewhat flattened andthe ends splayed outwards. The ends of the supports 6 engage in bed and the corners detachproduce tubular The-bed is supported by means of four sockets formed in T-pieces '7 mounted on the side rods 3. Each T-piece '7 may be formed as shown of a stamping drilled along both limbs of the T to receive the rods3 as a tight driving fit and the ends of the supports 6 as a sliding flt. The tubular edges 20f the sheet 1 are provided with slits 8 through which the outstanding limbs of the T-pieces '7 pass.

Theside rods 3 are divided in the middle and. are connected by means of a tubular socket or sleeve 9 adapted to receive the ends 10 and 11 of the two halves of the'side rod 3. The end 10 is a permanent driving fit in the sleeve 9 whilst the end 11 is a sliding fit and is readily removable. The half of the rod 3 having the end 10 is secured to the. canvas by means of ,a metal clip 12 whilst the other half is provided at its outer end with a spring 13 arranged around the rod and secured thereto and secured at its inner end to a ring l4 stitched to the canvas. The action of the spring 13 is yieldingly to retain the end 11 in the socket 9. To assist in disengaging the end 11 from the socket 11, a loop 15 is provided on a ring 16 formed at the outer end of the spring 13.

In Figure 1 the letters a, b, c, d show the positions of the mid sections through the supports 6 when the bed is in use.

Figure 2 shows how the irregular shape and weight distribution of the'figure causes the side rods 3 to springinwards at 17, 18, 19 opposite the shoulders, hips and calves and curve outwards at 20, 21 where the waist and knees are supported.

In Figure 3 the arrows show how the tension produced in the canvas by loads is largely resisted by thrusts in the supports 6 and only part- 1y by bending. It will be apparent that the vertical component of the tension of the canvas is much less than the horizontal component so that the vertical deflection of the side rods as indicated in Figure 1 is much less than the horizontal deflection as shown in Figure 2. It is also to be observed that if a person stands on one foot-in the middle of the canvas the latter will be depressed until it touches the middle of a support 6 and this in turn will be depressed until it touches the ground so that all excess weight is taken by the ground without causing undue stress in the canvas or in the supports.

Such unfair treatment as sitting on the edge .of the, bed simply tips it over instead of overstraining a side member. v

In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 the construction is substantially similar to thatsdescribedwith reference to Figures 1 to 4 with the exception that the side rods 22 are provided 3 with a hinged joint 23 instead of a socket joint. The hinge advantageously comprises socket mem- I bers 24, 25 which receive the inner ends 26, 27 of the two halves of the rod 22 as a permanent driving fit. The socket members 24, 25 have reduced and flattened portions 28, 29 which are hingedly connected by means of straps 30 and rivets 31,

32 which pass through the straps 30 and the reduced portions 28 and 29 respectively. The side rods 22 are provided as in the other construction 14 with T piece's 33 adapted to receive the ends of supports 34., The axes of the rivets 31, 32 should be parallel to the axes of the socket portions of the T pieces 33 and therefore parallel to the ends of the supports 34. Moreover the hinge 23 is 14 preferably arranged in known manner per so so that it can only act in one direction so as to prevent collapse of the bed when in use. The straps 30 may advantageously be constituted by driving chain plates. 'Inthis embodiment the,

spring 13 is dispensed with and the side rods are secured at each end to the canvas 36 by means of metal clips 35.

Whilst in the foregoing I have described two preferred embodiments of this invention it is to Y be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope thereof.

I claim:

1. A collapsible bed comprising a pair of jointed springy side rods, a tubular socket joint at the middle of each side rod; a sheet of canvas attached along opposite longitudinal edges to the said side rods, a spring secured to the end of each side rod and to the canvas, for yieldably retaining the socket joint in engagement four detachable resilient supporting-members each in the form of a W with the centre flattened and the ends splayed outwards and sockets at spaced positions on said side rods for the reception of the ends of said supporting members.

2. A collapsible bedstead comprising a pair of springy side rods, a tubular socket joint at the centre of each side rod, a sheet of flexible material associated therewith, overturned tubular edges along opposite longitudinal edges of said sheet for reception of said side rods, four socket mem- 

